In NY

We arrived to New York City on Thursday April 10 at night and we installed ourselves in the hotel YMCA in 63rd street in West 5. That same night we ate dinner in a McDonald's and then returned to the hotel to sleep.

Next day, Friday April 11, on the morning we made a visit to the Cervantes Institute, which is located in #211 49th Street. There was a Spanish lady who explained and guided us in the Institute, telling us many interesting pieces of information about it. For instance, she said that the Cervantes Institute was founded between 1991 and 1993 by the fusion of former institutes of Spanish culture, in order to create a database of Spanish works, an exposition center, and a way of promoting culture through Spanish, Galician, Catalan, and Euskera classes. It has extended around the world , and there are right now 70 centers of such organization around the world. She also mentioned that that particular center contained 11,000 audiovisuals and 7,000 videos, all in Spanish. We also learned that 70% of the material was in the cellar; there was an auditorium for cultural activities, such as the reciting of Cervantes's most famous novel, "Don Quijote". The building comprises of two floors and a basement, where the auditorium is located.




Once the visit ended, we made a very long walk through the city to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, from 49th Street to 79th Street, and before entering, we ate a hot dog for lunch. We then made our way through the museum thanks to a guide who showed us its highlights, mainly paintings. Since we walked at a very fast pace with the guide, some of us got lost but that does not mean that they could not enjoy the visit without the guide. We saw the first greek sculpture in a standing position, many modernist and cubist American paintings from the 20th century, French Renaissance paintings, works by Pablo Picasso, etc. Soon after this, we went to see an original Egyptian temple moved and rebuilt stone by stone in the museum.








Later, we spent practically the whole afternoon shopping in SOHO (South of Houston), where we all bought some clothes during 2 hours.At night we went to have dinner at an Italian Restaurant in Little Italy. Just after leaving the restaurant, there was a limousine who offered us to go with them for a certain amount of money to the Hotel YMCA, but Jon Asensi and Mrs. Marcia rejected it, since the driver had no car licence and so it was quite risky. We then decided to better walk to the hotel.





On Saturday April 12, we woke up at 6:40 A.M. and left YMCA at 8:30 to get the metro to Battery Park, from which we sailed in a ferry to go to Ellis Island for a visit of the Statue of Liberty, the symbol of freedom, opportunities, security, and future, which was quite impressive. We then visited the Ellis Island Immigration Museum, and saw that a very big number of people from Spain, Eastern Europe, Asia and other parts of the world had immigrated to the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century. In the park there was a monument for the Korean War veterans.




Even though we had to wait like one hour due to the fog, we finally managed to sail in the ferry and visit the monuments.



The museum had a database where you could find out if any of your ancestors had immigrated to the US through the Ellis Island. This could also be consulted through the internet. Besides this, it contained pictures of immigrants and ships, immigrants' luggage, etc.

Afterwards, we returned to Manhattan, and watched a funny street show. Then we had lunch near Times Square in McDonald's at around 4:30 P.M. There, since that day was Hector's birthday, Manolo and I decided to buy a salesman an interesting DVD for Hector! Unsurprisingly, Hector seemed to enjoy the video, as we all expected, hehe. Later we crossed through Wall Street to get to Ground Zero, where they are rebuilding some skyscrapers at the moment. We also went to see a huge statue of the first President of USA, George Washington.





We then did some shopping during the afternoon in a mall in South Port, where I bought a T-shirt for my sister María José, and later at night arrived at China Town, where we had dinner in a Chinese restaurant. After having finished eating, we came back to the hotel by metro; cleaned ourselves; and started to write this blog entry for our classtrip to USA.



On the fourth day, Sunday April 13, we had a long stroll in almost the whole morning in Central Park, where we saw many people jogging and playing baseball for fun and lots of people walking with their dogs.



We then went to Broadway to try to buy tickets for the musical "Mamma Mia!", but they were sold out, so we had leisure time for shopping around Times Square while Jon and Marcia tried to find tickets on resale. Meanwhile, we visited a couple of guitar shops but did not buy any guitar, because we did not have enough money. Then I went to another store, where I bought a T-shirt.


At the end, Jon and Marcia found the tickets, and gave us a bit of more free time and time to eat before the musical, which started at 2 P.M. We then went to the "Mamma Mia!" Musical, which really impressed us all. It was a great show! It had both great singing and dancing. It was about a young girl who is about to marry, but still does not know who her father is, so she decides to invite the three possible "father candidates", about whom she read in her mother's diary. Finally, her mother marries the girl's father, and the girl decides not to marry, because she is still too young, and thinks that she needs to keep growing up before her marriage.



Afterwards, at 4:30 P.M. we visited the amazing Empire State Building. From the top, the 86th floor, we observed the entire city of New York. There were incredible views from the top, indeed. Later, we did some shopping again, especially in Apple Store, but did not buy anything however. Once in the hotel, we had dinner in the dining room, and then went to our bedrooms to put our clothes in our suitcases so that they were ready for the next day to leave NY and go to Texas by airplane.